1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a living body stimulating electrode, a living body stimulating electrode apparatus, and a method for producing a living body stimulating electrode, and relates, for example, to one that is mounted on the skin and stimulates a pain sensory nerve.
2. Description of the Related Art
For clinical investigations of diabetes and brain waves, such a method has been proposed that a pair of electrodes containing a cathode and an anode is mounted on an end of the finger of the subject or the like, and the pain sense of the subject is stimulated thereby by applying an electric current thereto.
For example, in the case of diabetes where the nerve tissue of the patient is degenerated with the progress of the disease, clues to the condition of the disease of the subject may be found by applying electric stimulation to the pain sensory nerve of the subject and investigating the reaction in the subject.
As the electrode for stimulating a pain sense, the following have been proposed.
JP-A-2010-213929 describes a skin stimulating electrode apparatus that has an insulating part capable of retaining relative positions of a positive electrode and a negative electrode, thereby retaining the difference in height between the tip of the positive electrode and the tip of the negative electrode, which are in contact with the skin.
JP-A-2013-154023, JP-A-2013-154024 and JP-A-2013-154025 each describe a living body stimulating electrode apparatus that has a stimulating electrode having an edge line and stimulating a pain sensory nerve and a contact electrode forming a pair with the stimulating electrode, which are integrated with each other from the portion in contact with the skin to the portion having connectors to wire leads, and are fixed to a resin chassis through insert molding or thermal caulking.
JP-A-2013-154026 describes a living body stimulating electrode apparatus that has a stimulating electrode and a contact electrode, which are each formed solely at the skin contact portions, in which leg parts provided on each of the stimulating electrode and the contact electrode are press fitted into through holes formed in a resin part, thereby fixing the electrodes to the resin part, and simultaneously connecting the electrodes electrically to circuits provided on the inner peripheral surface of the through hole and the back surface of the resin part.
The living body stimulating electrode may have factors of impairing the sense of electric stimulation, for example, due to the weights of the electric parts and the devices itself, the weight of the wire leads (copper wire) for conducting electricity, and the tensile force formed by handling the wire leads for fixing or the like. In addition, there is an increasing demand of a metal terminal (living body stimulating electrode) that is capable of controlling more complex electric signals.
In the aforementioned ordinary electrodes having a wire lead formed of copper wire connected thereto, a complex circuit applied thereto may increase the factors including the weight of the wire lead and the tensile force, which are desirably reduced.